Acid Reign are an English

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band, originally active from 1985 to 1991. The band rebooted in 2015 with just H remaining from the original line up. Along with

Onslaught Onslaught may refer to: Characters * Onslaught (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics supervillain * Onslaught (DC Comics), a DC Comics team of Quraci terrorists * Onslaught (Transformers), the leader of the Combaticons in the ''Transformers'' series G ...

Sabbat The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many modern pagans, consisting of the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. While names for each festival vary among dive ...

and Xentrix, Acid Reign are considered to be one of the "big four" of British thrash metal. To date, they have released three studio albums: ''The Fear'' (1989), ''Obnoxious'' (1990) and ''The Age of Entitlement'' (2019).

History

Initial career (1985–1991)

Acid Reign were formed by drummer and keyboardist Mark Ramsey Wharton , bassist Ian Gangwer (originally Peter Warriner), singer Howard "H" Smith , and future

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

member, guitarist Gary "Gaz" Jennings. In 1987, the band released the ''Moshkinstein'' demo. On the strength of this recording, they were picked up by British thrash metal label Under One Flag (a subsidiary of

Music for Nations Music For Nations (MFN) is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. It was a subsidiary of the larger label distributor Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG and later Sony Music Entertainment. Launched in 1 ...

) in 1988 who released the '' Moshkinstein EP''. Following this release, Jennings was replaced by another future Cathedral member,

Adam Lehan Adam Lehan is a British musician who has worked with doom metal bands Cathedral and Workshed, thrash metal bands Acid Reign, Deadline and Lord Crucifier and folk band Beneath the Oak. History Some of Lehan's uncles were members of the Grumbl ...

(formerly of Lord Crucifier), and the band gained support slots opening for such acts as

Flotsam and Jetsam In maritime law, flotsam'','' jetsam'','' lagan'','' and derelict are specific kinds of shipwreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage. A shipwreck is defined as the r ...

and

Death Angel Death Angel is an American thrash metal band from Daly City, California, initially active from 1982 to 1991 and again since 2001. Death Angel has released nine studio albums, two demo tapes, one box set and three live albums. The band has gone ...

. Acid Reign struck up a friendship with label mates

Nuclear Assault Nuclear Assault was an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid-to-late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the main bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast along with Overkill, Whiplash, T ...

and

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

, and toured the UK and Europe as support to the ''

Survive Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...

'' and ''

Fabulous Disaster ''Fabulous Disaster'' is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Exodus. It was released on January 30, 1989 on the UK label Music for Nations, while the US version was released on Combat/Relativity Records. In 1999, Century Media ...

'' tours. The band released their debut album, ''The Fear'', in 1989. In support of the album, Acid Reign toured with Nuclear Assault again in 1989 across Europe with Dark Angel and Candlemass, with bassist Ian "Mac" MacDonald replacing Gangwer. Their second album, ''Obnoxious'', arrived in 1990 to generally poor reviews.

Post-split (1991–2014)

Acid Reign broke up in 1991 after parting ways with Music For Nations. They played their final show at the London

Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed whe ...

. In January 2014, H started the world's only comedy/heavy metal podcast called "Talking Bollocks" for the British metal website ''All About the Rock''. On 30 November 2014, Acid Reign frontman H told ''All About the Rock'':

Reboot (2015–present)

On 5 May 2015, Acid Reign announced on their

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page that they had reformed. Frontman Howard "H" Smith, who is the only original member of Acid Reign involved in the reboot, commented, "Finally the rebooted line up is complete, it's taken nearly two years but I can honestly say it's been worth the wait. Typically we're doing things differently to everyone else as where they reformed (and believe me we tried) we are now rebooting. Everyone in the band has Acid Reign in their DNA, some of the guys knew the band back in the day and some didn't but everyone is on the same page and we can't wait to get out there and show the world how much it has been missing us." Two months later, Acid Reign released their first song in 25 years, "Plan of the Damned", via streaming platforms. On 27 September 2019 the band released their first full-length studio album in 29 years, engineered, produced and mixed by

Jayce Lewis Jason Charles Lewis known professionally as Jayce Lewis (born 29 September 1984) is a Welsh musician from Bridgend, South Wales. In 2009 his self-produced single titled "Icon" (also included on EMI Records' ''Smash Hits 2009'' compilation) achi ...

at Northstone Studios, the long awaited album titled ''The Age of Entitlement'' was released via Dissonance Productions to worldwide critical and fan acclaim. In May 2021, Acid Reign confirmed on their Facebook page that original bassist Ian Gangwer had died. No cause of death was given at the time. On March 25, 2022, the band announced via their Facebook page that they had parted company with guitarist Paul Chanter. Acid Reign are currently working on new material for their fourth full-length studio album.

Discography

Studio albums

*''The Fear'' (1989) ( UK Indie No. 10) *''Obnoxious'' (1990) *''The Age of Entitlement'' (2019)

Other releases

*''The Worst of Acid Reign'' (compilation, 1991) *''The Apple Core Archives'' (box set, 2014)

EPs

*''Moshkinstein'' (1988) *''Humanoia'' (1989)

Singles

*"Hanging on the Telephone" (1989) *"Plan of the Damned" (2015) *"The Man Who Became Himself" (2017)

Band members

Current members

*Howard "H" Smith – vocals (1985–1991, 2015–present) *Cooky – guitar (2015–present) *Pete Dee – bass (2015–present) *Marc Jackson – drums (2015–present)

Former members

* Mark Ramsey Wharton – drums, keyboards (1985–1991) *

Garry Jennings Garry "Gaz" Jennings is an English musician best known for his work as the guitarist for doom metal band Cathedral. In addition, he has also worked as the guitarist of thrash metal band Acid Reign, punk rock band Septic Tank and heavy metal b ...

– guitar (1985–1988) *Ian Gangwer – bass (1985–1989) *Kevin "Kev" Papworth – guitar (1987–1991) *

– guitar (1989–1990) *Ian "Mac" MacDonald – bass (1989–1991) *Paul Chanter – guitar (2015–2022) Timeline

References

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Political music groups English thrash metal musical groups Musical groups from Harrogate 1985 establishments in England Musical groups reestablished in 2015